Katie showed them where to get trays and silverware. "You can eat anything in here," she said, gesturing to the bustling lines of students serving themselves food. "Most things have labels over them telling what they are. But be warned!" She dropped her voice as a kitchen-worker walked past. "Most of the food is pretty nasty."
With Katie's help, they successfully navigated the food lines. Legolas ended up with a "deli sandwich", some "French fries" (which looked suspiciously like chips), and some "potatoes au gratin". Katie had looked a little leery of this last choice, but Legolas decided to try them anyway.
Finally, they took cups and Katie showed them where to get water. "See, you press the cup against this lever, and, voila!" Water poured into the cup. Legolas wondered if "voila" meant "water". "Now you try."
Estel placed his cup against the lever on the right. "Oh, you don't want to use—" Katie began as Estel pressed the lever. Water squirted out sideways and sprayed the front of Elrohir's tunic. Elrohir began to laugh. "…That one," Katie finished, grinning.
"Sorry, Ro—Ron," Estel corrected him, laughing as well.
Katie and the MElings joined Dana, Liz and Megan at one of the tables. Megan had picked one pretty far away from most of the rest of the students. Legolas still could see the girls casting them curious glances from across the room.
"Oh, man, you're trying the potatoes au gratin?" Dana said, looking at Legolas's plate with obvious disgust. "Katie, didn't you warn him?"
Katie shrugged. "He's going to be intrepid."
"Go on." Dana rested her chin in her hand. "Try 'em. This oughta be good."
Cautiously, Legolas speared some on his fork and put it in his mouth. He had to resist the urge to gag, and he quickly swallowed it and gulped down some water, trying to wash out the taste. Katie started to laugh at his expression, and Liz and Dana applauded. "Bravo," Dana said dryly, "Encore." Even Megan was grinning widely, and Legolas's male friends looked rather amused.
Legolas drank so much water so fast that he choked a little on the last of it. Katie patted him on the back as he coughed. "You're a braver man than I am, Gunga Din," she said with admiration.
Legolas was about to point out to her that she was not a man, and neither was he, but then he realized that Liz and Dana thought he was one, and he shuddered to think what they would assume if he said he wasn't. But his confusion wasn't visible; the conversation had moved on to other things.
"Liz, the food is supposed to go in your mouth, not your lap," Katie was saying jocularly as her friend dropped part of what she was eating. Legolas was surprised that instead of laughing or glaring at Katie, Liz turned bright red and dropped her gaze to her tray.
The twins and Estel were eating unconcernedly. Legolas tentatively tried some of the food on his tray (avoiding the vile potatoes au gratin), and discovered it was definitely edible. Some of it was not the best he had ever tasted, but it wouldn't make him physically sick. All four of them ate in silence. There was nothing they could add to the conversation, and having their own conversation was out—all they would talk about was connected with Middle Earth, and that subject was clearly verboten in public. So each of them retreated into his own thoughts.
Legolas wondered if only a few hours would have passed in Middle Earth when they returned, just as it had been for Katie. He certainly hoped so. He could only imagine the furor and worry it would cause if the four of them appeared to have simply disappeared—the grief it would cause, both in Imladris and in Mirkwood. His father, he knew, would be heart-broken. And Lord Elrond! He had lost his wife to the Undying Lands—for him to lose both twins and his adopted son would be terrible. And for Arwen to lose both her brothers at once!
Dana's voice brought him abruptly back to the present. "So you guys are Katie's cousins, huh?" she asked the other three.
"Er…" Elladan saw Megan giving him a significant look. "Yes. We are."
"What part of England are you from?"
"London," Katie answered quickly for them.
"Really? You don't have Cockney accents."
"Not all Londoners are Cockneys," Katie objected. "Hey, why is Candy giving Tosha dirty looks?" she asked, quickly diverting the attention from their guests.
The MElings all breathed a sigh of relief as Liz and Dana took the bait. "Oh, Tosha started going out with that guy at Mer," Liz explained.
"Mer?" Legolas asked, and instantly regretting bringing the attention back to himself and the other three. But no one looked like they were going to bring the subject back up. "Merricksburg University, in the next town over," Megan explained.
"You mean the guy Candy brought back to the dorm two Fridays ago?"
"Yeah. I don't know why they go down there to Frat Row anyway," Liz continued. "But anyway. Candy really wouldn't need an excuse to be mad at Tosha. They're both eque-bitches," she concluded.
Legolas's eyes widened, and he exchanged shocked glances with Estel. The occasional "shit" that Katie let drop was one thing, but this was very inappropriate, especially for a female, and in mixed company!
When everyone was done eating, they stood and carried their trays over to an open door by the kitchen. Legolas watched the girls carefully to see what to do. They emptied their cups into a bucket and put the tray on some kind of slanted counter with little wheels on it. They pushed their trays down this contraption and the young man farther down the counter sorted out the silverware and plates, etc. Legolas imitated them. He didn't understand why Megan smirked at Katie after they were out of view of the youth on tray duty. Katie rolled her eyes.
"Po?" Liz asked, and the others agreed. Legolas didn't even ask.
"Why didn't you say hi to your friend?" Megan asked in a teasing voice.
"Shaddup," Katie said, half-annoyed and half-laughing.
"What friend?" Elrohir asked.
"Johnnie. The guy in the kitchen. He's got a crush on Katie. He liiiiikes her," Megan added as an afterthought, realizing they probably wouldn't understand "crush".
"Shuddup, Megs," Katie said menacingly, "or I'll get Dana to sit on you." Legolas couldn't help but smile at the mental image of the tall Dana tackling the diminutive Megan to the floor and sitting on her.
"Are you calling me fat?" Dana called over her shoulder.
"No! I'm calling you big!" Katie shot back. "And I'm calling Megan vertically challenged," she added.
"I'm not vertically challenged!" Megan protested loudly. "I'm energy efficient!"
The other three girls laughed, and the MElings simply shrugged.
They left the cafeteria and headed down a curved flight of stairs, through another room of comfortable furniture, and into a hallway, one side of which was covered in a pattern of gold-painted metal and little squares of glass, with numbers on each square. Each of the girls went to a particular square and turned a silver knob back and forth until the little square opened like a door, and then they pulled papers out.
"It's the post office—the P.O., or po," Katie explained in a quiet whisper as she walked over with her papers. "It's how we get our mail on campus—our messages." She walked over to a large silver area of the wall, just like the one they had seen on the third floor, and pressed the button with the arrow pointing up. Instantly, there was the sound of a bell and the silver panel slid back to reveal a small wood-paneled room. "Score," Katie said. "This is an elevator," she hurriedly explained in an even quieter whisper as she led them in and the others approached. She knew the elves at least, and probably Estel as well, could still hear her. "Once we're inside, it will move, and take us up to the third floor." Legolas had his doubts about this. How could a room move and take them up to the third floor?
The girls all piled in (it was quite a tight fit with eight people inside the tiny room) and Katie pressed a sequence of numbered buttons, and then a large round button with a "3" on it. The doors slid shut again, and sure enough, there was a little jolt, and Legolas could feel quite distinctly that they were moving upwards. The shock it gave him caused him to jump a little, but he doubted Liz and Dana had noticed. Estel convulsively gripped his arm, and both of the twins pressed themselves against the wall. After a few tense moments and three dings from the elevator, the doors slid open, and sure enough, they were in the third floor sitting room again.
"Do you wanna work on Latin?" Liz asked Megan as they filed down the hall.
"Yeah. I'll come to your room. And you and Dana can do Spanish," she added to Katie.
"No, I'm gonna stand guard while these guys take a shower," Katie answered. "Do you two have any extra towels? I've got two extra, but I need two more."
"What, didn't they bring any luggage?" Dana asked as she went to fetch the towels. Katie followed her down the hall.
"Um, no. It was kind of a last-minute thing," Legolas heard Katie hedge as they entered the room.
"How does one "take a shower"?" Elladan asked as Megan gathered up her books and left for Liz's room.
"Katie'll explain," she called over her shoulder. As Katie passed her in the doorway, she added, "Oh, and I said the three of you were Katie's cousins from England, and Legolas was your friend. I covered us by saying you were reenactors, and sometimes you all slip into character, and that your pointed ears were probably a genetic thing, or a birth defect or something."
"Birth defect?.!" all three elves exclaimed indignantly, but she was gone already. "And what is a reenactor?" Estel asked Katie, who was trying to hide her grin.
"Somebody who imitates how people lived in the past," she explained, pulling some soap and bottles off her closet shelf. "The most common ones around here are the guys at Gettysburg who reenact the Civil War. Okay, let's go!"
She led them down to a door by the bathroom. The room was rather small, with four stalls with curtains over them on one side and a row of hooks on the other wall.
"Alright, here are the showers," Katie said, walking over to one. "And listen up, 'cause I'm only explaining this once!" She smiled at her bewildered guests, and reached into the stall. "Here are the taps. The "H" stands for hot, the "C" for cold. Turn them to the left to turn on the water or to get more, and to the right to turn them down or off." She turned a half-sphere above her head toward the wall, then turned the cold tap to the left. Just like with the tap in the lunchroom, the water sprayed down. After a moment, she turned the tap to the right again, and the water turned off. "You can adjust the temperature by turning just one knob to the left or right. Turn it off when you're done.
"Here's a towel and washcloth for each of you, but I've only got two bars of soap and two bottles of shampoo, so you'll have to share. Shampoo is soap for your hair. Everybody clear?" They all nodded. "Okay. I'm going to sit in the hall and guard the door. Call me if you need anything."
"Thank you," they all chorused as she shut the door behind her.
000
Showering was a very novel experience for all four of them, especially with the hot and cold running water. "It is like standing under a waterfall," Estel observed, "only warm!"
After their showers, they all went back to the room. Katie had to go to work and Megan had class, so they were once again left to their own devices. Legolas was actually a little relieved. It was perfectly comfortable with only the four of them in the room, but it was a bit crowded when Megan and Katie were there, and when Dana and Liz had been added to the mix, it was positively claustrophobic. Dorm rooms were definitely not made for entertaining large parties of people.
It wasn't just being crowded that was making Legolas claustrophobic. None of them had been out of the building since the night before. He was used to being out in nature, and even when he was indoors, it rarely felt like it. Elven architecture generally attempted to bring the outdoors in. It was a rare day indeed when he did not leave the confines of a building.
They all sat in contemplative silence for a few minutes. "You are very quiet today, little brother," Elrohir finally said, smiling affectionately at the young human.
"What is there to say?" Estel answered, slipping into Elvish. "We cannot speak in public." He paused. "How is it Katie could recognize things in our world, but hers is so alien to me?"
"She said 'reenactors' imitated a historic lifestyle. Perhaps our world is what her world used to be like," Elladan suggested. They all pondered this.
"Do you think Middle Earth will ever look like this?" Elrohir asked quietly.
None of them really wanted to answer that question.
TBC
AN: Yes, again a weird place to end. I'm finding this one very hard to write. Expect it to be a good deal shorter than the last (which will then allow me to write the third. Thank goodness! The plot bunnies are eating me alive).
Liz and Dana are completely based on my two friends. Kim lives down the hall from us. She has an extra mattress in her room because she's an upperclassman, so she is allowed a single. Merricksburg University is based on the University in my hometown, which is not far from my college. The girls here go there to "Frat Row" to party. Having grown up in that town and heard horror stories from the poor people who live near Frat Row, I think they're all insane. Intrigues between Tosha and Candy are based on real issues between girls here. "Eque-bitches" is Liz's term for the not-terribly-nice girls who abound in the equestrian program at our school. The lunch conversation basically sounds completely like us. Unfortunately, "Johnnie" is not fictional. The exchanges about him are pretty realistic. I recently told Megan if she mentioned him again, I'd drown her in a punch bowl. And the food here is pretty terrible sometimes.
EresseElrondiel: Yes, Hamlet drove me a little crazy, too. But it's not nearly as bad as Tess of the D'Urbervilles… Oh gosh, a frilly dress? I read a fanfic once in which Arwen challenged Haldir and Legolas to an egg-and-spoon race wearing frilly dresses and high-heeled shoes… Can't remember what it was called, but it was a riot.
ChibiChingo: Yes, I'm not terribly fond of "MElings", but I can't seem to think of anything better…
Hermione at Heart: Yes, and for all of you out there who were also wondering, Estel is Aragorn. He was raised in the House of Elrond (Elrond is said to have "raised him as his own", which is why I call him the twins' little brother), and they called him "Estel", which means "Hope". (If you notice the line in RotK about "I bring Hope to men, I keep none for myself—it takes on a lot more meaning if you know that Elrond called him Hope.) Gilraen, I believe, only died shortly before the War of the Ring, but it seems to be a convention in fanfiction that she is never written about. I don't know why. But it seems I've kept up the tradition! Aragorn was told of his true name, history, and destiny and given the Ring of Barahir and the Shard of Narsil around the time he turned twenty. So by the time of these fanfictions, he knows who he is. Which is why it's so crazy-weird for him when Katie hails him as Macbeth, "who shalt be king hereafter!" because it's actually true, but there's no way Katie could know that.
Ravens Destiny: Hee hee! Yes, one of my favorite quotes from play practice always was, "It's a good idea. But it's more of a bad idea than a good idea." Oh, don't steal him! What, isn't hitting him over the head with the cricket bat enough?.!
Almenal: Most colleges here are co-ed, too, just not all of them (obviously). :) So where are you from?
theycallmemary: Elves behind the wheel… Oh dear. That's a frightening thought.
RenegadeKitsune: Poor guys? What about poor me? I have to live at women's college with no guys! lol
DarkenedDreams: You're right; I never thought about that. Eric really does sound like Aragorn! But Katie doesn't know Estel's real name is Aragorn. Oh my gosh. Legolas getting a swirly. That would be sad. Oh, wow, if I ever really want to go in for the "torture the elves" thing (more than I do already) I would so do that… So… I take it you and Ravens Destiny go to the same school? lol That's so hilarious; you both told me the same quote! Alright, I'll give you another play thing from my past: the time my friend Tristin, on set design, accidentally screwed a set-piece to the stage. That was funny. I need to go and check out you guys' work sometime!
Thanks also to BabeBunny, Laer4572, werewolflemming and Madd Hatter!
Well, I certainly got plenty of reviews! So it looks like they're up for a karaoke night! I just have to figure out where to put it in the story…
I'm sorry it was a long time between posts this time. This fic is kicking my butt.
My last final is Wednesday, and I'm moving home Thursday! I've got plenty of good intentions for this summer: clean my room, catch up on my pleasure reading, and write plenty of fanfiction! But you know what happens to good intentions… The road to the void of Melkor is paved with them!. Or so the hobbits would say. :) So never hesitate to bug me incessantly about updating!
Any good ideas, any opinions on an elf karaoke night, comments, whatever, Please Review!